The Finances of France in 1799

Introduction

François D’Ivernois (1757-1842) was a printer, lawyer, economist and
historian from Geneva. Exiled from Switzerland, in 1784 he published
anonymously An Historical and Political View of the Constitution
and Revolutions of Geneva in the Eighteenth Century. D'Ivernois
hoped to start a colony of Swiss clock makers near Waterford, but the
lack of interest by the British government doomed the scheme. Returning
to Geneva in 1790, by 1792 d'Ivernois, a liberal opponent of the Revolution,
was again living in exile in London. A naturalized British citizen and
knighted by the King, d'Ivernois served as a British agent, corresponding
with contacts in France and producing anti-French propaganda for the
government (the German publicist Friedrich von Gentz, at the urging
of the British, produced a German translation of d'Ivernois' study of
French finances). Malthus observed of the book, "Sir Francis d'Ivernois,
who had certainly a tendency to exaggerate, and probably has exaggerated
considerably, the losses of the French nation, estimates the total loss
of the troops of France, both by land and sea, up to the year 1799,
at a million and a half." In 1813 d'Ivernois advised the British
government on issuing special paper currency to be used by the Allied
armies fighting Napoleon. D'Ivernois returned to Switzerland in 1814
and was appointed the Swiss representative to the Congress of Vienna
and later as a Conseiller d'Etat.

The Directory had inherited a dire financial situation; the treasury
was empty, taxes seriously in arrears and a poor harvest meant starvation
in many departments. Though the Directory never successfully solved
its financial problems it initiated many reforms, which were eventually
going to move the country in the right direction, as well as other more
controversial reforms. The Directory passed four important tax laws,
the quatre vielles, a tax on land, on movable property, the patente,
and a tax on doors and windows. The assignats were replaced
by another paper currency based on the national properties, the mandats.
The Directory took a hard-line on tax evasion. They went so far as
to even attempt to collect back taxes dating to the ancien régime.

In the an VII Finance Minister Ramel-Nogaret balanced the budget
by "consolidating" two-thirds of the national debt. The deficit
of an VI of 250 million francs was reduced by an VII to
only 67 million by means of "Ramel liquidation." A Forced
Loan (19 Thermidor) from the wealthy and the Law of Hostages
(24 Messidor) authorizing the detention of the relatives of émigrés,
rebels and nobles in those departments "in a disturbed condition."
A levée en masse and requisitioning, both unpopular, were announced.

The elections of 1799, like the election of 1798, saw the return of
many Jacobin members. The Director J.-F. Reubell was replaced by the
abbe Siéyès and J.-B. Treilhard was forced out and replaced by
L.-J. Gohier. In the legislative coup of Prairial the Directors
P.-A. Merlin de Douai and L.-M. La Revellière-Lepeaux were replaced
by P. Roger-Ducos and Gen. J.-F. Moulin.

Source:

d'Ivernois, Francis. Historical and Political Survey of the Losses
Sustained by the French Nation in Population, Agriculture, Colonies,
Manufactures, and Commerce, in Consequence of the Revolution and the
Present War: To Which is Added, a Supplement. London: Printed for
J. Wright, 1799. [A translation of Tableau historique et politique
des pertes que la révolution et la guerre ont causées au peuple français,
published in London, 1799.]